Commission refers Greece to Court over
animal welfare infringements

The Commission has decided to refer Greece to the
European Court of Justice for failure to properly implement and
enforce EU legislation on animal welfare in transport and at slaughter. The
decision to take this action against Greece follows persistent short-comings
identified in the field of animal welfare over a number of years. The standard
of animal welfare in Greece remains below par and the necessary legislation has
not been adequately implemented. Therefore, the Commission has no alternative
but to refer the case to the Court of Justice

Background

Member State authorities are responsible for ensuring that EU rules are
properly enforced and complied with within their territories. However, a number
of inspections carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) between 1998
and 2006 reported consistent and serious shortcomings in the area of animal
welfare in Greece.

Among the Commission's concerns is the failure of the Greek authorities to
implement and enforce the EU Directives on animal welfare during
transport[1] and on the
protection of animals at the time of
slaughter[2]. With regard to
animals in transport, Greece still does not carry out the identification and
authorisation of transporters, as required under EU legislation. The same is
true for road checks on transporters and controls of their route plans, and
there are no adequate facilities at or near the Greek ferry ports for animals
that have undergone long journeys. With regard to the welfare of animals at
slaughter, the Greek controls were found to be insufficient to ensure the
correct application of the EU rules on matters such as the appropriate stunning
of animals.

The Commission first initiated an infringement procedure against Greece on
non-compliance in the field of animal welfare in 1998, but terminated it
following commitments from the Greek authorities to improve matters. However,
subsequent FVO visits carried out between 2003 and 2006 revealed no substantial
improvement in the overall animal welfare situation in Greece. Moreover, the EU
legislation on animal welfare during transport and on animal welfare at the time
of slaughter, were still not properly implemented.

In May 2005, the Greek authorities transmitted an action plan to the
Commission, outlining how they intended to improve their enforcement record with
respect to animal welfare legislation. The plan also established a timetable for
the implementation of the FVO's recommendations in this respect. However, a
follow-up FVO inspection in 2006 found that the action plan was still not fully
implemented and that an adequate animal protection system was still lacking.

Therefore, the Commission sent a Reasoned Opinion to Greece on 4 July 2006,
warning them primarily to implement the necessary EU legislation as required.

The response by the Greek authorities to the Reasoned Opinion once again
failed to produce satisfactory results. There has been little or no progress in
improving animal welfare in Greece and the overall system of implementation and
enforcement of EU animal welfare legislation remains unsatisfactory. For that
reason, the Commission is now referring the case to the European Court of
Justice.

[1] Directive 91/628/EEC on
animal welfare in transport, now replaced by Regulation 1/2005

[2] Directive 93/119/EC on
the protection of animals at the time of slaughter or killing